Electoral Act, An Academic Issue
The Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam in this interview during an interactive session with members of the correspondent chapel spoke on his achievements and lashed out at on his major political opponent, Prof. Steve Torkuma Ugbah of the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN, describing him as an unknown quantity and a puppet in the hands of his puppet masters He also spoke on other topical issues. UBONG GEORGE was there for P.M.NEWS.
Why are candidates of various political parties not putting issues forward rather they are attacking personalities involved in the contest?
I believe that the key issues are whether the governor who is the incumbent governor has impacted on the people of Benue and whether some of the basics that affect all and sundry, the things that he has touched on all by himself in the last three years eight months, I think these are the issues. The issue of the electoral act is an academic issue, it is not an INEC issue, it is not an issue for rural farmers, it is not an issues for somebody who doesn’t have accessibility to his house, all that he knows is that the person who is governor or who wants to be governor should discuss whether he will be able to construct roads or provide some basic amenities, those are the key issues, it is not the electoral act.
I believe that in all the campaigns that I have done round the entire state, I have deliberately raised issues and put issues on the table. The issues that I have raised are that the gubernatorial candidate of the ACN has no antecedent as far as the politics of this state is concerned, and it is dangerous to elect somebody who has no antecedent after we have practiced democracy for twelve years, nobody knows him here, nobody knows what he has done before, other than we are told that he is a professor in America, we were told that he was adviser to the governor of California. We have gone to the website but there is nothing like that and that is an issue because that touches on the integrity of the candidate and that is an issue as far as the election is concerned.
We have also raised issues on the propriety matters. I started election as an independent minded person. Ugbah has two godfathers, who in the past from their antecedents have nothing to offer the people of Benue. Any person who has two godfathers cannot run a state. Even with one godfather it is impossible for you to run a state. These godfathers have paraded themselves in the rally they held in Gboko that they are the ones bringing change, that they are the ones bringing the governor. It is absolutely very dangerous for a state to have somebody who does not have a mind of his own, who himself does not have the ambition to be governor, other than some puppet masters who have brought him forward and that is an issue.
I have also raised issues as to the performance of these puppet masters because they are the ones presenting Ugbah. So, I am running an election with them and not Ugbah. The former governor has been governor for eight years, I can point at things that I have done within three years, eight months. Let us compare what he has done in eight years. This is an issue as far as our elections are concerned. I have raised these issues, I have not insulted anyone, I have raised issues that bothers on the performance. Ugbah of course we cannot raise the issue of performance because nobody knows him, we were only told that he was a professor in America, nobody knows what he was doing over there, we cannot take the risk. The people of Benue cannot put their destiny in the hands of an unknown quantity.
For the puppet masters who have presented him, Ayu has been minister thrice. It was when he was Minister of Industry that Benue Cement was sold. We have all the details of the transaction and we know what went on. This is an issue as far as this election is concerned.
In Taraku Mills, heavy loans were taken under the leadership of George Akume. Manasseh Joshua was locked up, yet we have no explanation as to where the money went to. I had to pay because Taraku Mills was put on receivership. I have paid about two hundred and seventy million (N270 million), that is an issue as far as this election is concerned. This clearly shows that Akume has nothing to offer the people of Benue because of his antecedents. He said that he gave contracts for roads and I am taking the credit for it. If you were governor for eight years and you cannot construct road and then you say that the person that succeeded you is taking credit, I don’t know what to believe. There is nothing like that.
Akume stayed in the annex of the presidential lodge in government house which is a two bedroom boys quarters of the presidential lodge. I have finished construction of a befitting government house. That is an issue. That is to show that Ugbah’s puppet masters have nothing to show for the people of Benue state and they are presenting somebody we don’t know whom I and the people of Benue believe has nothing to offer because the people who are presenting him have nothing to offer the people. These are issues and they are the issues I am presenting to the people of Benue state as I am campaigning round. I want them to come out with facts. They said I have not done anything. That is laughable because I have completed the road leading from Adikpo to Ikyogen to Jato Aka. I have completed the road to Ugbokolo up to Eke. I have completed the reconstruction of General Hospitals. I am constructing the dualization of Abu King Shuluwa road within the town here and you see there is a whole lot of difference. I am doing three water treatment plants one in Katsina-Ala, one in Otobi and one in Makurdi. I have done the road between Ugbokpo up to Oshigbudu, it is there on ground. I am doing the road between Otukpo to Igumale, they have done more than half of that. The road from the headquarters of Okpokwu local government up to Utonkon is on ground.
When re-elected, what would be the cardinal area of your concentration?
I have mentioned that before. Now that I have substantially addressed the issues of rural accessibility, I want to go into creation of wealth believing that there would be constant power supply because it makes no sense for me to set up cottage industries across the length and breadth of this state when I know that they will not be operational because of power supply. The few that we have here apart from mismanagement there is also the issue of incessant power cut. And so, given the seriousness with which President Jonathan who will be elected has shown on the issue of power, I believe that we will have constant power supply and the we will create cottage industries. Now there is accessibility. Once you have cottage industries where few youths would be employed, there would be commercial activities; there would be reduction in poverty. So, I am going to face reduction of poverty squarely beyond May 29, 2011. So, I will work seriously to reduce poverty.
Sir, you’ve been nicknamed Mr. Infrastructure. You talked about the Makurdi Water Works, although by our own estimation, it should have been completed by now. Would you say that anything in particular is causing the delay?
We ran into shortage of funds and that delayed it but we have been able to assess some funds and the contractor has been paid. That gave the delay of the four months; otherwise, it was supposed to have been commissioned or test-run by February. The contractor has given me June of this year for the commissioning of the plant. If you go there now, they are doing the electrical fittings. Every other thing is in place. We believe that by June, that would be test-run.
You came hard on your predecessor, Senator George Akume for non-performance notwithstanding on a good note and suddenly fell apart. What really is the problem that cannot be resolved?
In politics, what matters to people is permanent interest. People can change allegiance anytime, so Senator Akume has moved to another party and I remain in PDP and so, we are operating on two different political platform. So, as far as I am concerned, Akume is no longer an issue within the PDP and so, I don’t take that as an issue. We are facing the election, he is in a different and I am in a different party and so, at the end of the polls, whoever wins wins. I have no problem with that.
Could you please explain to us why there is this massive gang-up against your re-election bid by the opposition.
That is politics. I am somebody who likes challenges. I am at my best when I face challenges in life. Like you said, the former governor has moved to the ACN. Senator Akaagerger participated in the primaries of the PDP and lost to chief Barnabas Gemade and now defected to ACN. Senator Akaagerger is a political paper weight as far as the party and the politics of Zone A is concerned. He will never win that seat. So, I don’t consider his defection as anything. You mentioned former deputy speaker and the former speaker. The former speaker took over from me at the House of Representatives. He also knew he was going to lose the primaries in the PDP and also defected to ACN. He also as a former Speaker, has people who are following him but I want to let you know that he can never win that election in that federal constituency.
As the Chief security Officer of the state, how do you intend to control political thuggery during the elections?
I am taking some measures. It is very obvious that the ACN are determined that there should be violence because of their attitude of blocking roads and putting brooms on people’s vehicles. For the first time, you see that instead of putting flags, they tie brooms across major highways. The essence is to provoke people so that there would be violence. I have insisted that the PDP followers should maintain their calm. We are going into elections, so they have desperately tried to provoke violence in the state but we have resisted it and we will continue to resist it. We will vote and PDP will win its elections overwhelmingly because the people have seen clearly, the act of provocation embarked upon by the ACN.
In your capacity as the coordinator of the Jonathan / Sambo ticket in the north central zone, how far has the campaigns gone especially now that there are speculations that you have been replaced by your counterpart in Nasarawa State?
(Laughs) You know, I believe that you as journalists do investigative journalism when cheap lies are being peddled round such as this. I think these are issues that you should dismiss. Those are some of the things that come as a result of envy that why should I be coordinating the entire north-central. So, it’s a big deal if I am replaced. It then means that it is an issue to them that I was the coordinator of Jonathan in the north central. They don’t replace people through rumour. I have not been replaced, I will never be replaced, I will see through that Jonathan wins the north central zone overwhelmingly. It is wishful thinking from the opposition camp. They are worried and they will continue to be worried.
At the beginning of your administration, there was this zeal to do projects but at a point, this zeal slowed down. What was responsible for this sir?
Capital projects are a function of availability of funds. You would see that by next week, the tempo will pick up because I am going to flag off the two roads; the one in Oju, through Idele Okposa to Utonkon and the other one between Taraku to Agagbe. Resources dwindled and so, there was a slow down on road projects. Road project is highly capital intensive especially when you give it to serious minded company and not companies like Jukok or Romix. When it is Dantata and Sawoe or PW, Rockbridge or CCG, these are serious companies nationally that do quality work. When they handle your work, it becomes more expensive, but when you give it to Jukok or Romix, you know that they will not be done the way they are supposed to be done and before they hand over, the road will fail. So, once the resources dwindled, we had to slow down but that will pick up because we have accessed some funds. Ordinarily if I was somebody who does not have commitment at this time, I won’t be expending money starting new projects or paying contracts, I would have been finding ways on how to misapply that money for my election. But I am paying contractors, there are new contractors whom we have paid mobilization fees and they have started moving to these sites and you will witness the flag off of these two major road projects.
One of your basic problems even though you tried to shy away from it is that you still maintain all the commissioners, all the aides and all the top politicians you inherited from your predecessor. Why have you continued to carry your baggage for four years because no governor has done this. Will you still carry them over after four years?
Well let me that I believe in working with people and in working with people, we all have our failings in different areas. I know that we have this situation that you have mentioned where you have some people who are working with me were inherited but that is to show good faith. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing in government that I have done or I will do that should be hidden to anybody. If they are contractual agreement, they are meant for the people, publish them. It’s no big deal to me. If somebody will sneak documents, you sneak documents that I have taken N2billion or what? You are taking documents that contracts have been approved by the exco of this state and signed by the ministry and the contract awarded. That is not an issue and people should know. So, I have no problem with that. Some of these individuals you have mentioned believe that I don’t know this but they also have contributed immensely in different ways for us to move forward. And so, as you move along, you continue to adjust government as you see the manner of people whom you are working with. I never wanted to just sack people because they had worked with the previous administration. I wanted to see how much they can contribute. Majority of them have contributed a lot but when they visit in the night and pass documents, the people of Benue are seeing what I have done with their money. When you say I have awarded contract for water project, you go there and is the water project not being done? The amount was announced on radio and so, I have no problem with that because I don’t sign contracts, this is signed between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry concerned. You won’t see my signature in any of the contracts and it is debated in exco, it is approved by the exco. I am not the one who approves contracts. It is the exco of the state who does that. So, I wish them luck. What is important to the man on the street is that I have done the road between Ikyogen and Adikpo and if you take the paper and say this is the contract, it is totally immaterial to them. What is material is that they have a good road. I went to have my rally in the late governor’s (Aper Aku) village and you could see the excitement of the villagers. Aper Aku was a governor but there had never been a road leading to his village. The road is now ongoing. I have taken electricity to that village and all the villages along that route are benefiting from it. Even the DG to the Gubernatorial candidate of ACN, Prof. Iornem has tapped that electricity to his house. So, what matters to the people is that these things are on ground. I don’t do anything that would embarrass me. Everything I have done in government, I have done it in the open.
As a politician, people have seen that you made a fundamental error by allowing Benue State University to increase school fees just few weeks to the elections. What do you have to say to that?
It is not within my powers to increase the fee in BSU. But I know that something happened. When there was a negotiation for us to enhance the salaries of the staff, we arrived at a compromise. First, the negotiation was done by the federal government and not by state. You are aware that in the east, universities have been closed down because the governors there said they don’t have money to pay the salary that was negotiated by the federal government but I decided to pay. And we reached a compromise that we as state government would pay 80% of that salary but that the university should internally generate 20% and add and pay and the university agreed. And so, it is within their powers to look for sources as to how they can generate the 20% to add to the 80% we are giving them in order to pay the salary. Everything here is politicized and that is why we can’t make any progress. First, the university was closed down, they said Suswam has closed down BSU. We found a way as to how they can pay salary of their workers and it is election, you know it doesn’t make sense we must make progress. Having increased the fees of the university, the university is sourcing funds internally to achieve twenty percent so that they can join with the eighty percent that we are giving them in order to pay their salaries. I believe that we should not play politics and if you look at private universities, it is here that they pay the cheapest fees. You can go and investigate, go to other places they pay far more than what we pay here. I didn’t increase the fee; the university is sourcing funds internally to make up the twenty percent so that the lecturers can go to school. Because it is a difficult situation for us to say that we are paying those fees as demanded by the university.
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